Postwar America: Nationalism, Sectionalism, and the Era of Good Feelings
Post-War Nationalism and the Shift in Republican Ideology
The aftermath of the War of 1812 ushered in a brief period characterized by both significant nationalism and emerging sectionalism in the United States.
Nationalism focused on factors that tended toward greater strength and unity for the American republic.
President James Madison, formerly a strict adherent to Jeffersonian principles (limited government, compact theory, and strict construction), became "nationalized" by the experiences of the war.
The National Republican Program:
Madison supported several initiatives historically associated with the Federalist Party, leading to the emergence of "National Republicanism."
The Second Bank of the United States (BUS): Madison supported the chartering of a second bank because of the extreme difficulty experienced in financing the war. The principal difference between this and Hamilton's first bank was that the second bank was capitalized with significantly more money.
Internal Improvements: This included the construction of roads, bridges, and canals intended to unify the nation's infrastructure.
Tariffs: Madison supported tariffs to protect nascent American industry, similar to Alexander Hamilton's original economic plan from the s.
Standing Army: A permanent military force was deemed necessary for national security after the war's challenges.
The Divide within the Republican Party:
Despite the dominance of the Republican Party, a divide grew between two factions:
National Republicans: Those who shared ideological similarities with the former Federalists.
Democratic Republicans: Those who remained faithful to Jefferson's original principles of limited government. This group would eventually drop the "Republican" label to become the Democratic Party.
The National Republicans would eventually join other groups to form the Whig Party during the second party system.
Post-War Economic Transformation and Infrastructure
The post-war period was an era of massive "internal improvements," specifically in transportation and communication.
Paul Johnson's text details the centrality of canal building and the later emergence of railroads in this transformation.
Economic Impacts:
Prices of goods across the country began to fall.
Availability of goods increased massively.
Transportation time between locations decreased substantially.
Geographic Mobility:
Rapid movement of the population into the Ohio River Valley and the Mississippi River Valley.
New states were formed quickly during this era due to this expansion.
American Diplomacy and Territorial Expansion
Post-war diplomacy was marked by a surprising reconciliation and harmony between the United States and Britain.
U.S.-British Relations:
The two nations concluded a treaty establishing the longest unfortified border in the world, running from the Great Lakes to the continental divide.
Acquisition of Florida and the Adams-Onís Treaty:
Spain's power in the Western Hemisphere was waning due to independence movements in various republics.
Spain struggled to enforce treaty obligations, specifically regarding the Seminole Indians who crossed from Spanish Florida into Georgia to raid, pillage, and steal property and slaves.
Andrew Jackson was dispatched by the Monroe administration into Florida; he occupied Pensacola as a show of American force, demonstrating that the U.S. could take Florida at will.
Secretary of State John Quincy Adams negotiated the Adams-Onís Agreement (or the Transcontinental Treaty) in .
Under this treaty, the United States acquired Florida. In exchange, the U.S. government forgave debts and claims that American citizens held against Spain for property destroyed by the Seminoles.
The treaty also clarified the southwestern boundary of the Louisiana Territory, drawing a line to the Pacific Ocean.
The Monroe Doctrine ():
Primarily authored by John Quincy Adams, this was a unilateral statement recognizing the difference between European and Western Hemisphere political systems.
It affirmed that the U.S. would not interfere in European internal affairs or dynastic squabbles.
It declared the Western Hemisphere off-limits to further European colonization.
Adams calculated that the U.S. did not need its own massive force to back this up, as the British Navy would likely prevent other European powers from intervening for their own strategic reasons.
The Panic of 1819 and Economic Sectionalism
The country faced a severe financial crisis known as the Panic of .
Causes of the Panic:
A collapse in the price of cotton on the international market, which reduced revenue in the South and subsequently affected the North, as Southerners had fewer funds to purchase Northern goods.
Massive land speculation, particularly in the Ohio River Valley.
Role of the Second Bank of the United States (BUS):
To shore up its own position, the Second BUS called in loans from smaller, lesser banks.
The BUS demanded "specie payments," requiring that loans be paid in gold or silver rather than paper notes, which were often devalued or worthless.
Consequences:
Widespread bank failures occurred across the country.
Many individuals were pauperized or ended up in debtors' jail.
This created deep antipathy in the Trans-Appalachian West toward the "money power" of the East and Northeast.
Andrew Jackson’s personal hostility toward the Bank of the United States originated in part from these events, contributing to the political coalition that would eventually lead him to the presidency.
The Missouri Compromise and the Crisis of Slavery
As states were formed in the West, Missouri applied for admission to the Union around .
The Talmadge Amendment:
Congressman James Talmadge proposed an amendment providing for the gradual emancipation of the approximately slaves in Missouri.
The House of Representatives passed the amendment on strictly sectional lines (North for, South against), but it failed in the Senate.
The First Missouri Compromise:
Henry Clay of Kentucky brokered the compromise to resolve the impasse.
Maine was admitted as a free state simultaneously with Missouri's admission as a slave state to maintain parity/equality between slave and non-slave states in the Senate.
The compromise established that in the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase territory north of Missouri's southern border (), slavery would be prohibited forever. This was considered "sacrosanct" or settled law.
The Second Missouri Compromise:
Missouri's territorial legislature wrote a constitution that barred free blacks and mulattoes (mixed-race individuals) from entering the state, which violated the U.S. Constitution's requirements for a republican form of government.
A "ludicrous" solution was reached where Missouri was allowed to keep the language in its constitution, but had to provide a formal promise that it would never interpret that language to deprive any citizen of their constitutional rights.
Jefferson's Reaction:
Thomas Jefferson was deeply alarmed by the bitter sectional vitriol of the debates.
He famously stated that the Missouri Compromise awoke him like a "fire bell in the night" and referred to it as the "knell of the union" (the death knell of the union).
The One-Party System and the "King Caucus"
By the early s, the United States was largely a one-party system dominated by the Republicans, as the Federalist Party had essentially collapsed after the Hartford Convention.
By , the Federalists did not even put up a candidate for the presidency.
The "King Caucus":
This was the process by which Republican leadership met privately in a room (a caucus) to nominate their presidential candidate.
Because there was no viable opposition party, the caucus effectively chose the president before the popular election or the Electoral College vote took place.
This process was seen by many as a "fait accompli" and highly controversial, setting the stage for the contentious election of , the rise of Andrew Jackson, and the eventual development of the second party system.